figure; " it probably means a SEtying conte.ining some obscure allusi:'..'., Etnd ueuEtlly of a sarcEtstic nature. There are very few examples of thic 'rt.-1"II1 in our book. The various kinds of proverbs have been divided by HannEltJerg (' Revel. Bibl.,' v. 41, quoted by Lesetre) into five classes: I. Historical proverbs, wherein an event of the pa11t, or a word used on some momentous occasion, has passed into a popular saying, expressive of sor-c1e general sentiment or idea.· The saying about Saul mentioned just above is of this nature. Of the historical proverb there seems to be no instance in our book. 2. llleta· phorical proverbs. These are what we should most appropriately call proverbs. They enunciate some moral truth under a. figure drawn from nature or life. Such are these : '' In vain is the DQt spread in the eyes of any bird" (eh. i. 17); "Go to the ant, thou slugg..'1'd" (eh. vi. 6); "Let a bear robbed of her whelps meet a. man, rather than a fool in his folly" ( eh. xvii. 12) ; "The contentions of a. wife are a continual drop-ping" ( eh. xix. 13; xxvii. 15, 16). 3. Enigmas. These are either riddles like that of Samson (Judg. xiv.14), or obscure questions which needed thought to eluci• date them, and the kernel of which conveyed a moral truth. Such are the words of Agur, "Who hath ascended up into heaven, or descended?" etc. (eh. xxx. 4); "The horseleech bath two daughters, Give, give" (eh. xxx. 15). 4. Parabolic proverbs. Herein aro presented things and truths in allegorical shape. Our blessed Lord has used this mode of teaching most extensively, showing himself greater than Solomon. The best example of this class.is the treatment of Wisdom, e.g .. "Wisdom bath builded her house, she bath hewn out her [seven pillars" (eh. ix. 1). 5. JJidactical proverbs, which give precise instruction on points of morals, religion, or behaviour, and of which the first nine chapters afford very perfect instances, and the rest of the book more concise and less developed examples.
§ 2. CONTENTS. The book is inscribed, "The Proverbs 0£ Solomon, son of David, King of Israel." How this title is to be .regarded, and to what portion or portions of the work it applies, we shall see further on. Then (eh. i. 1-6) follows a description of the writing and a recommendation of its importance and utility. Its object is partly moral and partly intellectual; it seeks to instruct in the way of wisdom, to edify those who have already made pro• gress, and to discipline bearers to receive and assimilate the highest teach- ing. The wisdom (chocmah, and in the plural of" excellence," chocrrwth) here first mentioned is no mere philosophical attainment, no merely secular advancement in the knowledge 0£ things; it is this-it includes the know- ledge of all that can bo known; but it is much more. It is distinctly religious, and has for its object the directing man's life according to his highest interests, so that it is equivalent to "the fear of the Lord," that is, practical religion, and is often interchanged with that expression. It iv INTRODUCTION TO
t.eaches whe,t God requires of me,n, how God would have me,n behave in nil circumst&noes of life; it tee,ches piety, duty, justice. King e,nd poe,eant, the old and the young, learned and ignorant, are hereby taught what is e,ccept- able in their severa.l stations, ages, stages of intellectual development. Later on, Wisdom is personified as a great teacher, M dwelling with God from all eternity, assisting a.t the creation of the world, the original of all authority on ee,rth. We gather from various indice,tions in our book that wisdom is rege,rded in a threefold respect: first, as an essential attribute of Almighty God ; secondly, as revealed in creation ; thirdly, as communicated to man. It is the mind or thought of God; it is that by which he created the world; it is that which regulates and informs the moral being of man. The lan- guage used in such passages as eh. viii. 23-31 adapts itself to the idea of a representation of the Son of God, an anticipation of the incarnation of Jesus our Lord; and though we cannot suppose that Solomon had any clear notion of the Divine personality of Wisdom (for which,_indeed, the stern monotheism of the age was not ripe), yet we may believe that it was not alien from the mind of the Holy Spirit that the Christian Church should see in these Solomonic utterances prophecies and adumbrations of the nature and operations of the Son of God made man, of him whom St. John calls the Word. It is of Wisdom as communicated to man that the Book of Proverbs chlefly treats, indicating the only way of obtaining and securing possession of her, and the incalculable blessings that attend her acquisition and nsance. It must fnrther be observed, in connection with this subject, that the Hebrew, in his pursuit of Wisdom, was not. like the heathen philosopher groping blindly after God, seeking to discover the great Unknown, and to form for himself a deity which should satisfy his moral instincts and solve the questions of the creation and government of the universe. The Hebrew started from the point where the heathen came to a pause. The Jew knew God already-knew him by revelation; his aim was to recognize him in all relations-in nature, in life, in morality, in religion; to see this overruling Providence in all things whatsoever; to make this great truth control private, pn blic, soeial, and political circumstances and conduct. This profound con- ception of Divine sa.perintendence dominates all the reflections of the think- ing man, and makes him own in every occurrence, even in every natural phenomenon, an expression of the mind and will of God. Hence comes the absolute trust in the jnstice of the snpreme Ruler, in the wise ordering of events, in the certain distribution of rewards and punishments, in the regulated dispensing of prosperity and adversity. In such ways Wisdom reveals itself, and the intelligent man recognized its presence; and idealizing and personifying it, learned to speak of it in those high terms which we read of with awe in this section, seeing therein him who is invisible. After this introduction there follows the first part of the book (eh. i. 7- ix. 18), consisting of fifteen admonitory discourses, addressed to youth, with the view of exhibiting the excellence of wisdom, encouraging the THE PROVERBS. V